Kara Swisher · 42:33
At this incredibly expensive picture. And good good good decision. Good decision. And then this one guy comes in. I love him, this actor. And he comes in, and they tell him what it is. And he goes, you fucking idiot. Like, what are you talking about? And then they all jumped the car and rushed to her, but it was just a great... So you fucking idiot. Like
Scott Galloway · 42:51
So the movie... Actually, the movie that best, is the best lesson around the issue that that's call us, calling in about is Albert Brooks' loss in America.
Kara Swisher · 43:00
Oh, great movie. Everything he does.
Scott Galloway · 43:02
He basically decides to... He's a big ad exec, and he basically decides to throw it all in and see America. And his wife ends up... She's a gambling addict and loses all their money in Vegas. And he goes to this local job community trying to get a job. He's like, I was looking for... They have a box, they're like crossing guard, $8 an hour. He's like, I was actually looking more for 110,120 thousand dollars a year. And he's like, let me see if we have a $110,000 boss with jobs. And he ends up going back to Madison Avenue and eating shit and getting his old job back. I think Albert Brooks is an absolutely underappreciated talent. Broadcast news.
Kara Swisher · 43:44
News. Greatest.
Scott Galloway · 43:45
One of the greatest lines in movie history is when William Hurt asked Albert Brooks, and he plays the star, like, empty suit bra... Handsome broadcaster. He says, what do you do when your reality exceeds your wildest dreams? And Albert Brooks goes.
Kara Swisher · 43:59
Keep it to yourself. So good. And I gotta tell you, let's have another Albert Brooks moment. Defending your life with Meryl Streep. My Outstanding. Such... We gotta find... Let's find Albert Brooks. I have heard he listens to us. I've heard that.
Scott Galloway · 44:13
That is a wonderful film. Thank you for bringing that up.
Kara Swisher · 44:16
Yeah. Ugh. What a... Meryl Streep is at her best. It's such a fun, wonderful... Just do yourself a fucking favor.
Scott Galloway · 44:24
He gets hit by he gets hit by a bus driving a convertible BMW listening to Barbara Streisky.
Kara Swisher · 44:29
We're so
Scott Galloway · 44:33
old. We are so dating ourselves.
Kara Swisher · 44:35
Old, but that's okay. We'll we'll take it. Anyway
Scott Galloway · 44:37
I was drinking Lancer's wine when I saw that show.
Kara Swisher · 44:40
Lancer's wine in that weird bottle. Oh my god. Speaking of throwback, I... Just so you know, I totally scrambled the Jets after we had our talk on Pivot, because I was, like, so excited. And then you tweeted me... You texted me something about Tracy Chapman because we both love him because you're a lesbian too. I've got a great episode. I scrambled the Jets. I literally yesterday said, we're doing this on on on Tracy Chapman, and I got Lydia Polgren of the New York Times. She also has a great podcast, matter of opinion at the times. Maura Johnston, who is a Boston music critic, and then, Estelle, Caswell, who did this great podcast for Vox called Earworm. She's amazing. And we just we just geeked out on Tracy Chapman, and you'll love it. I I know you don't listen on, but this one, you should.
Guest · 45:25
Fast Car is a song about social mobility, being able to go from one place to another and not being trapped. So I think that that music spoke to something that, you know, people were really, really, really viscerally experiencing.
Kara Swisher · 45:36
It's not just Fast Car. The whole album is incredibly political.
Guest · 45:39
Well, I think she was also very explicit about the old idea that the personal is political. And I think that the album is kind of a holistic depiction of just her thoughts and feelings over the course of many years.
Kara Swisher · 45:54
A huge theme in the album is, like, fight or flight, and I think that, to me, really resonates.
Scott Galloway · 46:00
Oh, I'm I'm... I put out a a thread yesterday. I'm like, anyone else listen to this song 25 times in
Kara Swisher · 46:06
the last
Scott Galloway · 46:06
I 24 cannot stop listening to Tracy Chapman right now.
Kara Swisher · 46:10
My little lesbian. My little lesbian. I love you becoming a lesbian slowly.
Scott Galloway · 46:15
One of the... And I've said this a lot. I've garnered I've garnered a lot of wonderful links from our friendship, but one of the things I didn't expect is on a regular basis. You know how people coming up to us and say hi? That happens two or three times a day.
Kara Swisher · 46:25
That's wonderful.
Scott Galloway · 46:26
Once a month, someone comes up to me and goes, hi. I'm a lesbian. Like, and I'm like, well, good for you. Like... And it struck me. I'm like, do do gay women think that heterosexual men naturally don't have a bias against them or
Kara Swisher · 46:43
something because No. It's nice.
Scott Galloway · 46:45
They come up... Like, they're like, oh, I too am a lesbian. Yes. And you are lesbian friendly.
Kara Swisher · 46:52
You are.
Scott Galloway · 46:52
You're lesbian. Conversation. And I'm like
Kara Swisher · 46:55
They they... We love a lesbian.
Scott Galloway · 46:56
Have no idea how to respond to that.
Kara Swisher · 46:59
We love a lesbrow, and you are deaf... You are in the lesbrow category. That's why.
Scott Galloway · 47:05
It's so funny. But people say to me... The people say to me... Or they'll say, like, you know, I'm on Keras. And I'm like, what team is that? What do you mean? It's it's hilarious.
Kara Swisher · 47:15
That's a it's a wonderful welcoming community, and we'll protect you in the apocalypse. That's all you need to know.
Scott Galloway · 47:20
I'm ready.
Kara Swisher · 47:20
We'll protect you. We'll we'll go. He's in. He's
Scott Galloway · 47:23
in. Now that I'm out of my procreating years, I'm ready to live with lesbians.
Kara Swisher · 47:26
We'll watch you. I I mean, I don't understand why people don't think lesbians don't like men. I mean, there's that old joke. They don't have to sleep with them. Why would they not... Why would they dislike them?
Scott Galloway · 47:36
I have found... And and it's dangerous to make reductive generalizations of any group. I have found in general, they're incredibly friendly to men. They're... I... I've... All the lesbians I know love men. They wanna go on dates with men. It just doesn't involve sex. It just
Kara Swisher · 47:50
Not all of them.
Scott Galloway · 47:51
I have found
Kara Swisher · 47:52
Not all straight women like men. So
Scott Galloway · 47:54
Anyways, I don't
Kara Swisher · 47:55
It's not...
Scott Galloway · 47:55
Yeah. I don't
Kara Swisher · 47:56
I, know, a lot of the v... One of the reasons someone was asking me writing this memoir why I got along so well with all these men. And I was like, well, I think it's because I'm a lesbian a little bit. They can talk to me. They feel more comfortable. I don't know. There's something happening there. I was at one event with a whole bunch of VCs who were just blabbing away, telling me everything. And then some woman goes by, and they're like, girl, what do you think of her? They started to make incredibly sexist remarks about a very confident executive. And I literally looked at him. I go, still a feminist. Still a feminist. And it was like... It was very funny. It was
Scott Galloway · 48:29
I thought that story was gonna be better. I like the story where I used to call my assistant jiggles. Is that wrong? Is that wrong?
Kara Swisher · 48:36
Oh, good god. Anyway, if you've got a question of your own you'd like answered, send it our way. Go to nymag.com/pivot to submit a question for the show, or call 85551 Alright, Scott. One more quick break. We'll be back for predictions, and you can make a lesbian prediction if you need to.
[Ad break]
— Predictions segment begins —
Kara Swisher · 50:16
Okay, Scott. Let's hear a prediction.
Scott Galloway · 50:18
I'm just doubling down. Apple's mixed reality headset is a giant thud. It's DOA, And it's more evidence that, one, a violation of the most basic tenets of technology business... Businesses of the products are... That are a technology in search of a problem don't work. And the fact that I can, you know, see my calendar on the door, it's like, well, I could also just pin a calendar to my door. I think it violates some very basic anthropological truisms, and that is we don't like our peripheral vision inhibited because the things that could eat us or we could eat generally attack us from behind or from the side. And that's why we get nauseous. We get very uncomfortable. And also, I think... Oh, I can speculate what happened here. And that is Mark Zuckerberg is really angry and fed up with, having a lack of control and having, Sundar and Tim Cook determine his future because they control the end distribution in the form of Android and iOS. And he doesn't have a hardware device. So for about ten years, the better part of a decade, and tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars, he's attempted to go vertical and establish his own platform. He did it with the portal, and his latest vision, was to spend literally tens of billions of dollars establishing direct distribution through a new hardware channel, a headset. And I believe what happened was two to three years ago when likely the mixed reality headset was greenlit, Tim Cook said, I hate this guy, and we're not gonna let him do an end run around us and establish any sort of direct distribution. So let's take $2.03, $5,000,000,000, which by the way is nothing for us, and let's create a call option. Because if the headset thing does resonate with consumers, he's gonna be way out ahead of us. So let's take 2 or $3,000,000,000, and let's just... It's almost like insurance. And let's build our own headset. And if this thing takes off, we have the premier product, and we'll stick out our elbows. We're better at design. We're better at consumer. We have a better brand.
Kara Swisher · 52:15
And we'll make it better.
Scott Galloway · 52:15
Problem is over the course of that two years when the mixed reality headset was in development, it became increasingly clear that the boy genius, like everyone else, makes mistakes, and the headset doesn't work. But he was so far down the path with this thing, I think he had to release it. And I I
Kara Swisher · 52:30
Alright. Here's... I I see your point. I see your point. That said, let me just give you some statistics. It's sold out. It's the... It's preorders, 200,000.
Scott Galloway · 52:38
Okay. And I'm sold out because there's just one of me. That doesn't mean anything.
Kara Swisher · 52:42
I get that. I... It's still
Scott Galloway · 52:43
It was always gonna be sold out.
Kara Swisher · 52:44
No. It wasn't, actually. They were worried it was.
Scott Galloway · 52:46
Always. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. There was
Kara Swisher · 52:47
crowds. People
Scott Galloway · 52:48
How many did they produce?
Kara Swisher · 52:49
Are willing... A couple 100. It's not a huge biz. Mark Gerben noted that. It's not... It's gonna be five, 600,000 units or something like that. That said, I like that they're doing it. I... You know, Ben... Listen. I'll point to negative reviews. Ben Thompson from said, this is a cool area, but this has too many glitches, too many things he didn't like, guests sign in, things like that. I am fine with this insurance with them. Consumers seem willing to embrace this, which is interesting. One, people that should stop doing it and driving your Tesla and doing videos and stunts of doing it, it's... Come on. Stop it. So officials are issuing warnings about that, driving Teslas or or the Cybertruck and warning people about wearing the goggles while they're driving. Stop doing it. You look like fucking incels and idiots. And Pete Buttigieg said it, reminder, all advanced driver assistance systems available today require a human driver to be fully in control, fully engaged in driving tests at all times. I mean, really. I mean, stop it. I I agree with you to some extent, but it's selling okay. It's selling pretty well.
Scott Galloway · 53:56
Kara, the... Apple is the best managed brand in the world, and they have the ability to absolutely predict and stack preorders and sales. And then they they will manufacture 20% less such that they can create and and create and foment the illusion of scarcity. This thing... I mean, I... When I saw him on the cover of Vanity Fair, first off, Vanity Fair has officially jumped the shark. I thought that was a ridiculous cover. And two, this thing, I don't doubt that certain technology will waterfall into... I I think Apple will have a successful product as will Meta when they incorporate this technology in the micro cameras and the process and get to the point where you can elegantly incorporate this technology into a cool pair of Oliver Peoples glasses or Persols or, you know, Warby part, whatever it might be. That that is a winner. But right now, strapping an iPad to your face, which is what this is, is fucking ridiculous. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. My vasectomy costs exactly $3,500. Do you think Yeah. Coincidence that a vasectomy and the mixed reality headset
Kara Swisher · 55:02
You're not having sex with this thing. You keep making this metaphor.
Scott Galloway · 55:06
But but it's it's... It has the same effect. It means you'll never propagate. You put this thing on your head. It's a cheap vasectomy.
Kara Swisher · 55:13
Everywhere I bring it, everywhere I bring it include with packs of young people. They wanna try it on. I gotta tell you, I've never gotten so much interest.
Scott Galloway · 55:21
Then you're hanging out with the wrong young people.
Kara Swisher · 55:23
No. I'm telling you everywhere I go, everyone's like, can I try it on? Every place I go.
Scott Galloway · 55:28
By the way, I'm getting I'm getting my third vasectomy this week because it's worth $3,500 for me to have doctor Schwartz touch my genitalia.
Kara Swisher · 55:34
Okay. Alright. Okay. I'm gonna give it... I'm giving it I'm giving it... I'm along I'm along all day.
Scott Galloway · 55:41
Sad. It's like my... Big N and the twins, it's like they knew they were good looking at some point, and they're sad they no longer no longer are. That's from Ted.
Kara Swisher · 55:50
Alright. Alright. We're moving along. We're moving along. Okay. That's your prediction. We shall see.
Scott Galloway · 55:54
We Oh, you're alright.
Kara Swisher · 55:56
Come on. I'm moving you fucking along. Yeah. Let me just say, let's go back to my memoir. Most of it, I'm right, and I'm right here. Anyway
Scott Galloway · 56:02
This thing, Oh my god. Thud. Thud. This is... They're gonna stop talking about this thing in a couple weeks. Wrong.
Kara Swisher · 56:12
Non thud. No thud. Our producers are like, read us out, and don't let them make another vasectomy joke. Okay, Scott. That's the show. We'll be back on Tuesday with more pivot. We'll see about that. Read us out, please.
Scott Galloway · 56:25
Today's show is produced by Lara Nayman, Zoe Marcus, and Taylor Griffin. Ernie Intertaught engineered this episode. Thanks also to Jubrowes and Mil Savaria. Nishak Kurwa is Vox Media's executive producer of audio. Make sure you subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening to Pivot from New York Magazine and Vox Media. You can subscribe to the magazine at nymag.com/pod. We'll be back next week for another breakdown of all things tech and business. They don't even allow porn on this thing. Kara, this is a giant thud. This is a giant thud.
— Predictions segment ends —
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Scott Galloway · 57:32
app.
